Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 396 A Familiar Taste

After working for most of the night, exhausted and without a drop of water, Chen Shu left the kitchen, still finding no clues.

He first went to the back of the front desk to ask Jiang Hai, who was reviewing the surveillance footage, and got the answer that the couple who ran the food stall had been in the shop from 3 pm to 3 or 4 am for the past few days.

This put Chen Shu in a difficult position, because kidnapping cases require continuity, and people like the couple who run a food stall, who have to open their business every day, would not have the time or space to carry out a kidnapping.

Besides, they were both people with legitimate jobs, and their food stall seemed to be doing well, so they had absolutely no motive to commit a crime.

He then went to the small storage room where the food stall owner was being temporarily detained. He saw that although the man looked dejected, he was not flustered. As Chen Shu was leaving, the man even asked his wife if she had settled the bills for all the customers outside.

This thought further dispelled many of Chen Shu's doubts about him.

Back in the lobby, sitting next to the proprietress, Chen Shu listened to her rambling as she caught her breath, but in his mind, he was thinking about how to interrogate the food stall owner, whose suspicion was gradually fading, when he got back to the office.

Or should we stick to the old method and bluff?

Should we give it the cold shoulder for now and let the other person sit there all night to temper his arrogance?

Wait until he's so tired he can't keep his mind at rest before launching a surprise interrogation. Even if he wanted to make something up, he wouldn't have the energy.

The investigation might have to start with surveillance footage showing a suspect withdrawing money from a bank ATM and trace it back to the source.

The old-fashioned electric fan overhead creaked and groaned, and Chen Shu was lost in a jumble of thoughts, feeling restless and confused.

"Huh? Brother Shu, why are your shoes and trouser legs all wet? Where did you go?" Yan Chenxi looked down and asked in surprise.

"Their kitchen is flooded." Chen Shu was taken aback, then looked down and saw that, sure enough, the ground was wet and water was still dripping from the cuffs of his trousers.

"Did you leave my tap running?" The proprietress asked anxiously, and stood up to head into the kitchen.

Chen Shu pressed down on the other person's shoulder and shook his head: "It's already turned off."

"Oh, okay, it's fine as long as it's turned off. I mean, why did you leave my tap running if you had nothing better to do? What if it leaked into the living room? My newly installed vinyl flooring from last year would be ruined!"

Chen Shu wasn't in the mood to pay attention and casually retorted, "All the drains in your kitchen are clogged. Go find someone to unclogging them as soon as possible tomorrow."

"It's not my drain that's clogged, it's the drain outside that's clogged, and that's causing my drain to be blocked too," the proprietress complained, pointing outside. "Hey, it's both drain cleaning, it's just a matter of one being bigger and the other smaller, why is it so much more expensive outside than inside!"

Chen Shu didn't respond, but seeing that the landlady wasn't bothering him with her crying anymore, he gave up the urge to argue and let her talk.

My head hurts a little.

This SWAT officer hasn't been here long, so why does he get tired so easily when he uses his brain?

I just want to wait for the team's duty group to come and take the person away, so I can go back to the unit, take a shower, and then give that food stall owner a good interrogation.

Maybe pulling an all-nighter will solve the case. In any case, the bank's video surveillance footage can't be faked.

"Sister, it's better to unblock this sooner rather than later. After all, you restaurants use this sewer every day. And if the sewer is clogged, the meat and vegetables inside will easily spoil and smell bad. The stench will fill your restaurant, and how can you do business? So this has to be unblocked sooner or later. As for the price, just compare prices at a few more restaurants. You can't and shouldn't try to save money on this."

Street official Yan Chenxi, perhaps out of professional habit or because he had been sitting for a long time and was bored, started chatting with the proprietress.

The proprietress said sheepishly, "Officer, you're right. Actually, this sewer was only clogged a few days ago. We were planning to wait until the college entrance exam period was over and the shop was quieter before spending some money to unclog it."

Ha, they've mistaken Yan Chenxi for a police officer too.

and many more!

Amidst the lightning and thunder, Chen Shu felt something grasp onto his mind. He tried hard to recall the landlady's words, but the opportunity seemed to flit about like a nimble bird. As if under a spell, Chen Shu raised his right hand and held it in the air for a long while before tilting his ear towards the landlady and asking, "Tell me again, how many days has this sewer been clogged?"

"Oh?"

"How many days has your drain been clogged?"

"It just got blocked, only in the last few days, I think. The day before yesterday? The day before that?"

If you do the math, Sister Hua left her residence four days ago!

Then he lost contact with Gu Xiaoxue!
The timing was perfect!

Chen Shu jumped up, ran straight to the kitchen, opened a cabinet in the corner, crawled halfway inside, took out his phone, turned on the camera light, and carefully examined the water meter underneath.

After a while, he found a support nearby that could hold his strength, pried open all the drains on the ground, and lay on the ground smelling them for a long time, almost fainting from the stench.

Then Chen Shu picked up the large bowl of meat from the corner of the wall and placed it on the table in front of the proprietress in the lobby, pointing at it and asking, "What kind of meat?"

Yan Chenxi glanced at it but didn't say anything, though she recognized it as pork.

The proprietress examined the meat carefully for a few moments, then glanced back at the small storage room where her husband was, and said anxiously, "The pork... my husband bought frozen meat at the market a while ago. Officer, we only bought it from big, reputable shops. It was cheap, but we didn't know it was smuggled meat. We only bought a small amount, and they wouldn't show us any certificates or anything. Who would have thought?"

The proprietress poured out her heart, revealing everything she should and shouldn't have said. She was still wiping away tears as she poured out her grievances about how difficult business was these days.

It was practically a blatant admission that if they didn't buy the cheaper smuggled frozen meat, their entire family of five would starve to death.

Chen Shu was surprised; he really just wanted to ask what kind of meat it was.

Chen Shu, who ate either at the company cafeteria or at roadside stalls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, genuinely couldn't distinguish between the different types of meat.

He threw it to the proprietress with the intention of swindling her.

Knowing he couldn't get any more useful information from the middle-aged woman, Chen Shu ran to the well not far from the food stall and stared at the well cover, circling it several times.

Yan Chenxi pinched her nose and ran over from the food stall: "Brother Shu, it smells awful here. Did you find something?"

Seeing the two of them suddenly run out of the food stall, Jiang Hai, who had been sitting behind the counter absentmindedly watching the surveillance video, also took the opportunity to run out and stand behind his sister, peeking out.

Jiang Hai whispered, "Brother Shu, could it be that the hostage is at the bottom of this well?"

Chen Shu, preoccupied with the case, had no time to pay attention to this absurd speculation.

He straightened up and glanced back at the food stall a few times. He saw the proprietress, whose hands were tied, standing at the entrance of the shop looking at him with a curious expression.

"Jiang Hai, go back and keep an eye on the proprietress."

After sending Jiang Hai away, Chen Shu stared blankly at his departing back.

Yan Chenxi asked anxiously, "Brother Shu, what happened? Is Xiao Hai alright?"

"Oh, it's nothing, Xiao Hai is fine. I was just thinking about something else." Chen Shu squinted, but in his mind he was thinking about the scene where he had bumped into Jiang Hai in the kitchen of the food stall, squatting in the corner staring at the plate of meat.

He sniffed hard, and a sour smell that was somewhat familiar from his memory rushed into his nasal cavity.

Perhaps, he knows where Sister Hua is now.

(End of this chapter)